Heating unit



H. D. STERICK HEATING UNIT Aug. 30, 1960 Original Filed Aug. 19, 1954 INVENTOR. Harrison D. Sienck ?atented Aug. 30, 1960 now Patent No. 2,822,799, dated Feb. 11, 1953. Divided and this application Oct. 21, 1957, Ser. No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 126-92) This is a division of my copending application, now Patent No. 2,822,799, issued February 11, 1958.

This invention relates to a gas heating unit, and more particularly, to a heat intensifier or salamander which may be mounted on the floor of a room.

An outstanding disadvantage of overhead gas heating units of conventional construction, and similar units for radiant heating, is that a large amount of heat is thrown in the direction of the ceiling or Wall, instead of to the central portion of the room where desired. It has been estimated that only about 28 percent of the available heat of a conventional overhead heating unit is thrown downwardly because of the natural tendency for heat to rise from the heating source, even in the presence of reflectors which merely become overheated and allow upward conduction as Well as radiation of heat.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel heating unit which will overcome the above-named disadvantages of well-known types of heating units and which will considerably increase the efliciency thereof.

Another object of my invention is to provide a gas heating unit which enables considerably greater concentration and more directional reflection of the heat rays emanating from the unit and which substantially eliminates the flow of heat in a direction away from the space to be heated.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a burner and heat intensifier combination which is useful for heaters mounted on floors.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein the single figure is a vertical crosssectional view of a salamander type of heating unit for mounting on a floor and embodying the principles of my invention.

Referring more particularly to the single figure of the drawing, the heater unit shown is of the salamander type adapted for mounting on a floor and which embodies the principles of my invention. The heater unit comprises a burner 17 which is mounted on a perforated base, the total area of which perforations is substantially smaller than the unperforated area of the base. The base is mounted on legs 18 which are slightly flared downwardly and outwardly and are supported on the floor.

On the base is supported a metallic cylindrical housing 19 having perforations 1911, which housing encloses the burner 17. Mounted in the housing 19 are a plurality of circularly disposed, flanged support elements 20 for supporting a screen 21 which, in turn, supports a baffle in the form of a mat of steel wool 22 of loose, randomoriented metallic fibers having the unexpected and amazing quality of reflecting most of the heat of the burner downwardly and towards housing 19, and allowing very little upward escape of the heat to the ceiling. The lower portion of the mat 22 becomes red hot or incandescent and radiates heat downwardly and outwardly, Whereas the top portion of mat 22 is relatively cool so that it can be safely touched by the hand; mat 22, instead, may be made in the form of a plurality of layers of metal screening.

The baflie 22 is enclosed within a foraminous housing 23 of metallic screening, or the like, having mounted thereon a metallic cover 24 having a vent 25 and a down- Wardly extending peripheral flange supported by the screen 23. Cover 24 acts as a reflector for downwardly and outwardly reflecting Whatever heat may escape upwardly through mat 22, so that such heat will be reflected through the openings in screen 23.

In operation, therefore, most of the heat developed by burner 17 will be reflected downwardly by mat 22, and outwardly onto the housing walls and through perforations thereof, particularly as the central portion of the mat sags as inherently occurs after initial heating by the flames. Such reflected heat will also heat the walls 19 so that the latter will also radiate heat.

Flue gases will escape through the porous mat or bafiie 22 and through flue opening 25. Such heated air that escapes through the porous baffle 22 will be reflected, by cover 24, downwardly and outwardly through the openings of the screen 23 which supports the downwardly extending peripheral flange of cover 24. Thus the area surrounding the heater, particularly the floor area, will be effectively heated.

I claim:

1. A gas heating unit comprising a base adapted to be supported on a floor surface, a vertically extending hollow cylindrical, metallic housing supported on said base, a gas burner supported in the bottom of said housing, a mat of steel wool of high temperature-resistant metal alloy disposed above said burner and over said housing, said mat being sufliciently thick and dense so as to intercept substantially all the radiant heat emanating upwardly from the lower surface of said mat and reflect said heat downwardly whereby the flames emanating from said burner will heat the bottom surface of said mat and whereby substantially all of said heat will be reflected, by said mat, away from the top of said housing to heat said housing and radiate heat radially outwardly of said housing.

2. A gas heating unit of the salamander type, comprising a plurality of legs slightly flared downwardly and outwardly, a hollow metallic, cylindrical housing having its longitudinal axis extending vertically and having its lower end supported on said legs, a gas burner mounted on the bottom end of said housing, support elements within said housing, baflie means supported by said support elements and overlying said burner so as to be heated by the flames emanating therefrom, said baffle means reflecting a substantial portion of the heat downwardly and outwardly towards the walls of said housing and allowing upward escape of flue gases and a portion of the heat emanating from said burner, supporting means mounted on the top end of said housing about the perimeter thereof, a heat deflecting circular cover having a downwardly extending peripheral flange, said circular cover being mounted on said supporting means, in spaced relationship from said baffle, said supporting means having openings extending throughout said perimeter for passage therethrough of heated air which is outwardly deflected by said cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

